Description

GREAT CRESSINGHAM PRIORY ROAD
TF 80 SE (north-west side)

10/14 Manor House (formerly
9:7:51 lisLed as Priory)

- I

Former manor house and farmhouse. Bears moulded brick monograms of John and
Elizabeth Jenny who acquired the property in 1542. Later C16 addition to rear.
Brick with terracotta dressings and plain tile roofs to principal block.
Addition consists of a timber frame replaced with brick to ground floor. Black
and red pantile roof. One block of former courtyard plan survives in south
east corner of a rectangular moated site. Later addition forms L plan. Lower
part of front wall of a block adjacent to surviving block is standing.
Evidence of other buildings consists of fragmentary foundations. Principal
block. 2 storeys with attic. Facade articulated with 3 polygonal turrets
- the outer ones clasping the angles, the central one forming a chimney stack.
3 restored C19 mullion and transom windows and a restored 2-leaf door with
a 3-light rectangular fanlight. Ground floor openings beneath original
terracotta rectangular hood moulds. 3 original moulded single light arched
windows to ground floor of west turret. East side of eastern turret with 2
single-light arched windows. First floor decorated with terracotta blind
tracery in a distinctly Medieval reticulated motif. Jenny monogram and crest
stamped onto terracotta panels within the tracery. Highly elaborate horizontal
frieze forming base to the tracery consisting of inverted cusped interlaced
arcading with leaf motifs. Central turret is reduced to a plain rectangular
block which in turn carries a pair of octagonal chimney shafts. Lateral
turrets truncated just above eaves level. Rear wall of 2 bays with 3 original
2-light windows 2 of which have median transoms and hollowed-out spandrels
to arched heads. One blocked window and one smaller window above doorway.
4-centred doorway of 2 moulded orders. Rectangular hood moulds to all
openings. Traces of a stucco pattern of diagonally set squares and cusped
panels imitating flushwork. Terracotta frieze identical to main facade and
an elaborate plinth with terracotta blind tracery. Half of rear facade now
forms interior wall of addition; it retains 2 original windows (one probably
re-set because mouldings have been reversed), a 4-centred doorway, restored
stucco flushwork and continuation of frieze and plinth. Gable-ends heavily
repaired with added external stack to east. Connecting wall to west of
principal block contains a limestone 4-centred carriage entrance in
Perpendicular style with shafts and blind-traceried spandrels. Truncated
turret to west of archway matches main block turrets. Remains of a similar
turret to western extremity of wall. Wall largely rebuilt retaining, however,
some original sections with a black header chevron pattern. C19 crenellated
parapets and modern lean-to sheds to rear. Rear block of lobby entrance type
plan with 2 storeys and attic. Ground floor brickwork with traces of diaper
pattern and some areas rebuilt. Simple pargetted pattern of inverted semi-
circles with arrowheads beneath eaves on eastern side. C20 fenestration in
sympathetic style with metal casements and leaded glazing. West facade with
doorway opposite off-centre axial. stack. 4 flat-roofed dormers. Returned
brick gable-end with datestone in gable-end reading 1674 with initials E.O.I.
(Probably the correct date for the reconstruction of the gable-end). Modern
French windows with a plain doorcase. Interior. Main block retains 2 arched
fireplaces to central turret stack. The western turret was converted into
a dovecote - the nesting boxes roughly fashioned out of re-used terracotta
mouldings. C20 roof. Rear block with roll-moulded beams to both floors.
First floor ceilings with 3 roll-moulded bridging joists to each bay. Roof
appears to be later, possibly of 1674, with collars and butt-purlins.
Stencilling on some ground floor beams in northernmost room. Re-positioned
carved bracket of interest with a grotesque head to one side and a flower motif
to the other.

Listing NGR: TF8521402011

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q17535496

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  Historic Environment Law: Planning, Listed Buildings, Monuments, Conservation Areas and Objects by Harwood, Richard (2012) Paperback
• 
  Pevsner's Architectural Glossary (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Introductions)
• 
  Old House Handbook: A Practical Guide to Care and Repair
• 
  Herefordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Bedfordshire, Huntingdonshire, and Peterborough (Pevsner Architectural Guides): Written by Charles O'Brien, 2014 Edition, Publisher: Yale University Press [Hardcover]
• 
  Maintaining and Repairing Old Houses: A Guide to Conservation, Sustainability and Economy